Pols’ summer break
Council met fewest times since 2003
As the Big Apple battled back from the pandemic, implemented sprawling vaccine requirements, reopened schools, endured epic flooding and contended with a crisis at the Rikers Island jail, the City Council posted its least productive summer in two decades.
The council and its committees met or were scheduled to meet just 61 times between July and the end of September, the fewest number of hearings and meetings in that period since 2003 when it held 57.
It’s a big drop from the council’s pre-pandemic workload, the records show.
City lawmakers scheduled 91 meetings and hearings over the corresponding three-month period in 2019, 87 in 2018 and 91 again in 2017.
It’s even less productive than the council was last summer, when it managed to hold 72 meetings and hearings amid the devastating first wave of the coronavirus.
Council insiders and longtime observers lay the decline squarely at the feet of Speaker Corey Johnson (above), whose light summer schedule contrasted sharply with regular sightings of him in Provincetown, Mass., a hot spot on Cape Cod. Johnson’s office sent only two daily schedules to reporters between July 1 and Aug. 30, on July 29 and Aug. 26, which were the only two days the council formally met to approve legislation during those two months.
A Post reporter spotted Johnson exiting the building within minutes of the Aug. 26 meeting’s end, carrying a weekend bag and having already swapped his suit and tie for shorts, a T-shirt and sneakers.
“Who sets the priorities? It’s Corey. At the end of the day, the speaker has to add a level of urgency to the council,” said one source.
“It’s hard to run the New York City Council when you’re always running off to Provincetown,” said another. “It’s impossible to do anything because no one is doing anything.”
A third source brought up the frequent trips to Cape Cod unprompted when discussing the massive slowdown in council activity.
“It would be tough to be away and be super engaged,” the person said.
A fourth source added, “He used to be a key directional point for us on where we’re going as a body and where we can conduct consistent oversight, and that hasn’t happened as much.”
A Johnson spokeswoman claimed that Johnson’s nearly four-year tenure running the council has been more productive than those of his two most recent predecessors, Melissa Mark-Viverito and Christine Quinn.
“The Post is using a narrow definition of what the council does in an attempt to discredit the institution,” said Kate Lucadamo. “The council and speaker are proud of the work they did this summer.”
Insiders said Johnson’s inattentiveness compounded logistical issues caused by the temporary return to in-person hearings over the summer and struggles keeping termed-out lawmakers engaged. More than half of the council’s 51 seats will change hands next year due to term limits.
Johnson’s defenders say it’s been difficult to get lawmakers to show up to hearings when they have been held. Just two council members posed questions to city officials during a recent hearing on the city’s response to its mental-health and homelessness crises.